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Well, I've written 3 articles for SitePoint (2 on JavaScript OOP and a book review of PHP 4 Bible). I liked writing the technical documents (esp. the former 2) because I was sure someone out there could use them.

I also wrote a HUGE DHTML introduction at another site, but it's really not that refined, but it is thorough and has good info in it.

Anyway, one day I searched for my name at google.com and found my name on some Polish site. It was a class description, and under Literature to read during the class, my two articles were there.

It just gives you a good feeling to write, and hopefully, I shall write more (was thinking of actually writing another article within the week if I get started)

As Nicky said (I think she did a great job in saying so), but it's hard to find a "writing style" when you're used to the academic "no style" writing. Another hardship of writing I found was that it took forever especially with the editing process to refine my articles (Thanks Georgina and Kevin )

In the past week I began writing for SP. I have been writing for a long time, but most of my articles are not related to the computer, internet or web design. In fact, most of my artcles would be pretty much of no interest to most of you as they go in my church newsletter and on my [other] website! But, I enjoy writing. I just hate technical writing.

I think it's more that there is no basis for this among the sitepoint audience then that the article isn't good. I read through most of it, and it seems well done (helps that this is your field of study) and informative, but as a reader I'm kinda like "where did this come from?".

I mean, SPF covers a lot on running your business, making profit, asp, php, photoshop, etc. Maybe if you'd written an intro article placing HCI firmly where it fits, demonstrating the power, etc you might have had some more excited people

Nicky, I agree with Jeremy--it's a good, well-written article. I haven't been around SPF long and don't know the users well, but I think this is an important concept for site designers.

I may be totally off here, but my personal feeling is that the title is a bit intimidating---possibly boring---to many readers. They may not be associating HCI with usability, and therefore missing the point of how your article can benefit them. Or even worse, they may not realize that you should even consider usability when designing a site!

I'll try not to get too pessimistic here, but I fear that many designers today are more concerned with sizzle over substance. They would rather bloat a page with useless flash intros than make an effort to increase usability.

True, I did originally write it as just a HCI article, rather than focusing on the web side of things so that it defintiely an issue.

I do agree that the topic may not be found exciting bo a lot of people but I feel that we do need more of this side of things on SitePoint, rather than the all dancing all singing Flashy bits. There seems to be a very slow movement towards more serious issues, especially on the business topics, and this is what I was hoping to achieve. My Universal Design article seemed to go down well so I will be writing a follow-up to that one.

Naw, don't mind me it's a good thing that you're writing these kinds of articles because one day these types of things will come to the forefront and SPN will be ready, and you will have exposure already ... and then you can write about it with sizzle!

Hmm...

I don't think I have ever written an article specifically about online business, although I was going to at one time. I don't write for free, though. There are too many paid opportunities for me to use my time writing for free right now. Perhaps if I wanted to get into e-business books, I would write e-business articles without pay to get a start, but even then I have never written an article totally without pay. I started my first article at $30 for 500 words, which wasn't bad. Good pay for something that didn't take long. Those increased to $50 per 500 words by the third article.

As far as writing is concerned, I am a professional freelance writer (going on my second year now, but I am fairly inactive anymore; I spend my time on books and business), but I am also an author. I am represented in New York by Richard Curtis.

My first book is finished and seeking a publisher. It currently has the endorsement of Leonard Maltin of Entertainment Tonight and Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times has agreed to write an endorsement upon its acceptance for publication. We are still struggling to find a publisher, but the book is on the movie industry and a specific movie to be exact

I am not currently in the position to recommend other authors to my literary agent because he has yet to sell my first book yet (and I have yet to finish my second -- almost there), but in the future if I am able to secure a few solid book deals, I would be able to recommend serious authors to Richard personally.

Serious means you expect your book has substantial commercial potential, but more than that, you believe it is the best book on the subject and that you were the best qualified person to write it. Furthermore, you have drafted a proposal following all of the guidelines of the publishing industry, you have created a query letter, and you intend to write other books in the future at a rate of no less than one per year. Obviously if I were in a position to recommend authors to my agent, it would take me forever to read their material if I just made that offer to everyone, so I really hesitate to put that out there even, except to say that maybe it is a possibility in the future.

I am really wanting to be a full-time author as a profession, as well as a part-time Webmaster and filmmaker, so I hope I can secure several book deals soon!

Sweetness!

That's awesome

I really love writing, probably more than anything else except for making movies, but even that has its boundaries. As in, I like to make movies with my friends and I can see myself as an independent filmmaker, but not on set with 200 other people. That doesn't sound all that fun to me, just confusing. hehe.

Online business is fun too, somewhat, and I will say one thing... there is a new challenge every day! I swear every day I wake up and I have a new problem. But with every new problem, there are generally multiple solutions too, it's just a matter of finding them. I think it can be quite fun, almost like a puzzle, just putting everything together right to maximize revenue on your sites and minimize costs all the while hopefully not spending too much time doing it.

I've only had a serious online business for one month now, November completed my first month, and it was pretty wild! I think the future months will be more stable, but still quite a bit of changes and probably too many problems

hmm...does SitePoint allow book reviews often? It seems that, while writing on the technical side takes a while for me, I'm usually able to give my opinion on things fairly quickly and still have it be a quality article.

I love to write. Write all the time. Stories, poetry (yes, poetry..I only have three but personally, I like them), and articles.

In the future, I do plan on submitting some articles having to do with ASP to SitePoint, due to the sheer fact that they don't have enough. However, if you'll ask Nicky, getting me to write an article fell through once. I need to learn to get focused more quickly. Ah-ha! An idea for an article!

Re:Advice for writers

I have written many a product specification and product positioning statement for various companies over the years. Now I am branching out on my own, the
first book I am putting the finishing touches on is designed to help business seekers to create their own
information products - 40 tips to trigger info product
ideas.

It's taken me a while, but the key is that I love to
research and write about innovation, creativity and
invention - so the hours, days and weeks seemed like
mere minutes. Hopefully it helps people out there, that's my main intent.

Hi, I just got here a few days ago. I, too, have decided to take a shot at technical writing with SitePoint.

I have been writing methodological guides for the company I work for for the past year and I have grown to like it a lot. Considering my background as a litterature student and my interests in everything related to it, technical writing has come quite easily... as long as you know your subject!

I am currently writing an article of Web Standards. I then plan on writing another one on Search Engines. Then we'll see.

But I won't get carried away just yet and I'll begin by finishing this first one.